Houston Astros - Stadium #8

 

Going into Minute Maid Park, I expected a lot of heckling to which my response would be to cry which would make them feel uncomfortable and bad, so I'd be coming out ahead.  Fortunately, I only got two small comments about not wanting the Mariners to win so my plan would have to stay in my back pocket.  Why did I expect extra heckling at this game?  The Mariners happened to be in town playing the Astros and the Mariners are currently (at time of posting this) in 1st place!  Due to a problem with our initial plans, we ended up taking a pre-game stadium tour, so we learned a lot about the Astros' history and the stadium.  The main entrance to Minute Maid Park is built inside an old train station so the exterior has a lot of character and even walking inside, you feel like you're in a totally different time and place.  However, once you actually enter the concourse, you definitely feel like you're inside of a real major league ballpark (yes, this is a stab at Globe Life).  The park concourse gives me major T-Mobile vibes, which I like.  It was very spacious even though there were a lot of fans walking around and there were a lot of different places to get food from which is all a plus in my book.  Like T-Mobile, there is a retractable roof, but because of nearby thunderstorms, the roof was closed so we just sat in the air-conditioned stadium.  We sat 23 rows up from the visitor's dugout so we had a solid view of the field, yet we were still close enough to smell the 'roids.  What about the rest of the space in the stadium?  Advertisements, advertisements, advertisements.  It seemed like the entire game and fan experience were mentions of everyone that was advertising.  One thing I really liked is how they had two digital screens for fans to see all of the game stuff on, one ginormous one in centerfield and one very very large on on the 3rd level behind home plate.  Why do I care about this?  Imagine sitting in the seats under the scoreboard or directly to the side, you don't get to see anything that's happening.  With the second screen, everyone gets a chance to figure out which can of Goya beans the baseball is under. 

No longer unique to the Rangers, in my experiences so far, was the fact that the Astros also had cheerleaders.  Where the cheerleaders lacked in individual t-shirt cannons they made up for in the 8 barrel shirt cannon, all of eight of which are fired simultaneously by Orbit, the Astros mascot, from the back of a truck driving around the warning track.  They had pretty good fan engagement as there was stuff going on on the screen all of the time and had special graphics depending on the situation.

Now, for the real reason you're reading, the hotdog.  It was a good hotdog and I'm not just saying that because the hotdog at Globe Life was awful.  This hotdog had a good, meaty flavor, was proportional to the bun size and the bun was delicious (did I detect a potato bun?).  It was nowhere near the perfection that is the Petco Park hotdog, but this is definitely an above average hotdog.  The main hotdog vendor used a quick order process.  You go up to a screen and order everything and they just call out your number when your order is ready, just like the Costco food court.  It felt very efficient, yet I did prefer Dodger Stadium where you grabbed everything and went to check out with the cashier.  All of the other vendors were traditional lines.

The Astros played the Mariners on May 4, 2024 at 6:15 pm and we sat in section 113, row 23.  The price I paid for the tickets to this game was $$$.  For the value, I felt this was definitely overpriced, but I was willing to pay it because they played my home team.  I guess there's enough suckers out there to make flex pricing work.

If you want to see the box score, here’s a link

Texas Rangers - Stadium #7

 

We're doing a Texas baseball tour this year aka going to a Rangers game and an Astros game.  First up was the Texas Rangers at their converted airplane hangar Globe Life Field.  We parked on the other side of the old Ranger's stadium and let me tell you, the old stadium has that baseball character that you'd expect out of a ballpark.  The new stadium is, well...clean.  It felt like you were in an oversized high school sports stadium.  Didn't feel like a very baseball-y atmosphere except the fact that there was a baseball field in the middle of the place.  There were windows on the outfield side of the stadium that made it feel more open than it was, but the roof was shut today (on the plus side, they do have air conditioning, unlike T-Mobile).  There were only a handful of concessions available and the ones that were all were for the same things so there wasn't any variety which is odd because the concourse is very spacious.  Mid-day on a Thursday kept the lines down, which was nice, except when Jeremy wanted ice cream because then every other fan did too.  I noticed they didn't have any vendors walking up and down the aisles selling snacks.  Speaking of snacks, they had like 3 types of candy, popcorn, peanuts and that's it.  We just happened to sit in front of a group of 3 Mariners fans who came down for this game and an Astros game too.  They loved my Ryan Rowland-Smith jersey which pleased me.  I know that if we end up crossing paths in Houston, they'll recognize me.  The seats were fairly comfortable and not broken which is a plus.  One complaint from Jeremy is that the cupholders are in a strange spot behind the seats.  He kept putting his arm around the back of Jake's chair and dipping his finger into a stranger's beer.  It was awkward to say the least.

One thing I found very unique to this experience was the fact that the Rangers have cheerleaders and before you ask, yes, they do use a t-shirt cannon to launch shirts during the breaks and no, they did not use them to launch hotdogs.  The overall "fan experience" is somewhat lackluster.  They wanted to get the crowd fired up, but it seemed like they only had 1 way to say "Get Loud" and that was exactly how they said it.  With the roof closed, it was indeed loud in there and I can't imagine how much louder it'd get if it was actually full of fans.  There weren't any fun sound bytes during the various situations the players found themselves in, which made for a boring time.  Jeremy noticed they didn't have a place with a constant scoreboard or other team's scores so you'd have to wait until the inning was started to see where things were at.

How about that hotdog?  Imagine you are at a company BBQ in early August and Jeff from accounting is grilling up Dollar Tree hotdogs, but on top of foil so they don't get grill marks.  That's how they taste.  Very generic and you can't tell which meat they were going for, is it beef, pork, bork...who knows!  The standard hotdogs are like Ballpark frank size, but they do sell a 2 foot long hot dog which just seems unnecessary.  The bun was reasonably soft and not stale so that was nice.  Out of the hot dogs I've had thus far, I'd rank them on the lower side of average and definitely not worth the $7 we paid for one.

The Rangers played the Nationals on May 2, 2024 at 1:35 pm and we sat in section 223, row 10.  The price I paid for the tickets to this game was $30 each.  I want to say this was a reasonable price, but the "ballpark" was so lackluster that I felt like I was at an overpriced high school baseball game.  Would I come back for another game?  Probably not, sorry Texas.

If you want to see the box score, here’s a link

Seattle Mariners - Stadium #6

 Ah, to be back at our home stadium is a wonderful feeling.  For this game, Jeremy and I took the link light rail from Angle Lake to the stadium and ended up going in the home plate entrance as I needed my “front of the stadium” photo.  The concourse at T-Mobile seemed bigger than the others and no matter where you were on that first level, you could see the field.  In lieu of the team store, I just went to one of the official vendors in the stadium as all I needed was a ball (I already had a shirt for my quilt).

For the first time, we sat in what I refer to as the “fancy seats”.  Just above the diamond club, right behind home plate.  Almost close enough to smell the roids.  The fan experience, in my opinion, is the best we’ve seen so far.  Things for the crowd to engage in and various sound effects to supplement what was happening on the field.  Though, this fan is a bit mad.  Since it was Jeremy and my anniversary, I bought a surprise anniversary message to be shown on the big screen.  The screen glitched a few times during the messages and totally skipped the message I paid for!  I mean, how is Jeremy supposed to know that I love him now?  Ugh!  I did email the Mariners and the response was like 3 lines of “we’re sorry, here’s your money back, go Mariners”.  I didn’t feel like they cared at all which was a big disappointment.  The overall fan experience was incredibly engaging, though you’ve probably realized by now that I’ve been judging every other park against the Mariners.

The Mariners have a solid hotdog.  It’s a little thicker than a Ball Park, but the bun to dog ratio is fitting.  There was a good meaty flavor and the bun was soft.  Out of the ballparks thus far, I’d say this was my second favorite hotdog.  One thing that I had been missing all trip and didn’t realize how special T-Mobile was is that they have self-serve sodas.  You buy the cup from concessions and just refill your own drink all game.  Is it a good thing for your overall nutrition?  Nope, but that’s not why I go to baseball games. 

The Mariners played the Orioles on August 11, 2023 at 7:10 pm and we sat in section 131, row 27.  The price I paid for the tickets to this game was more than I probably should have spent and was also from a ticket reseller because the area of seats I wanted were already sold out.  I figured since this game not only capped off our road trip, but was also our anniversary, I should shell out a little more for the special occasion.  And that’s all I have to say about that.

If you want to see the box score, here’s a link

Oakland Athletics - Stadium #5

 

I know we showed up early to be there when the gates opened, but the number of cars in the parking lot was surprisingly low.  I guess I had forgotten the images of how many people actually show up to games.  Oakland Coliseum is…exactly as described by people on the internet.  If the team stays, they definitely need a new stadium.  It had major Kingdome vibes, down to the trough urinal in the men’s bathroom (according to Jeremy). The concourse was very crowded considering the number of fans in the stadium or perhaps it was just smaller than I’m used to.  It was dimly lit and not very inviting.  One very noticeable thing on the concourse is how many of the concession stands were not open and how hard it was to find the souvenir cup.  I counted all but one stand selling bottled drinks (also, not a variety of soda choices which was sad).  I guess one plus of not having the same number of fans as the other stadiums is that the lines were almost non-existent.  Our seats were really far away from the “action” and having walked around the stadium to get to our seats, it seemed like there wasn’t a “close” seat in the whole park.  It was strange.  In our section there was one other family of 4 and then the next closest people were 3 sections over.  There were more seagulls sitting and watching from the roofline, than there were fans near us.  Perhaps these seagulls came over from San Francisco to watch the game and that’s why I didn’t see them at Oracle.  The seats themselves were surprisingly comfortable considering they were stadium seats.  For a stadium that desperately needs updating, none of the seats were broken.  I did enjoy some of the things they did in between innings to keep the “crowd” engaged.  As far as various sound effects during the game play, the chanting of “sell the team” was the most I heard. This hotdog was a thicc boi.  It had a really good, meaty flavor and the bun was just soft enough, but it was so big that neither Jeremy or I could finish ours and this was to be our dinner.  However, it’s still not as good as the hotdog from Petco Park, but I’d still rank it high. The Athletics played the Rangers on August 8, 2023 at 6:40 pm and we sat in section 310, row 2.  The price I paid for the tickets to this game was $15 and it seemed dirt cheap.  Though, if I ever found myself at another Athletics game, I would spring for better tickets on a lower level to be “closer” to the field. If you want to see the box score, here’s a link

San Diego Padres - Stadium #4

 

The Padres sold parking in multiple garages next to the stadium.  Considering the ballpark has a city block built into it, the Padres seem like they own the entire city.  To get across the street to the stadium, there was a cool sky bridge to take.  The concourse was really crowded and kind of confusing to walk through since you went from the inside, to the outside in a city (essentially) and back inside.  I found it difficult to find the team store coming in from where we did.  I’m pretty sure they fit everything in a standard team store into a phone booth.  It was so cramped in the store, it was hard to move around, let alone, get by people who were stopped. If I thought the Giants game was hot, boy was I in for a surprise.  Jake even tried hiding under his seat to get away from the sun.  We ended up leaving our seats fairly early to get back to the shaded concourse.  There was a light breeze so it made it tolerable.  The seats themselves were fairly far away from the action and obviously in direct sun the entire game.  It was pretty cool to see an actual city building incorporated into the ballpark.  As far as keeping the fans engaged, they did an ok job.  Though, we did leave the game much earlier than we wanted to because it was so hot.  Jeremy and I had also been to a game there before, so I didn’t feel like we were missing out too much.   As for the hotdog, I cannot say enough good things about it.  It was just the right thickness, the bun was soft and the dog itself had a good meat flavor.  I contemplated buying a second one.  As I write this, I do regret not buying the second one, even if I did only eat it during our hour drive back to the hotel.  The only thing I will downgrade the food experience is they no longer have the slushies they had when Jeremy and I first went to a game there in 2008.  With the heat, a slushie would have made the heat more tolerable.  This marks a tick in the unhappy column. The Padres played the Dodgers on August 6, 2023 at 4:10 pm and we sat in section 311, row 15.  The price I paid for the tickets to this game was $54 and it seemed a bit high.  Again, if they use dynamic pricing, I’m sure I’m paying for the Dodgers and not the baseball experience. If you want to see the box score, here’s a link

Anaheim Angels - Stadium #3

 

The parking lot was a bit confusing to find the actual entrance.  We parked on the 3rd base side even though we walked up to the front of the stadium to get my customary picture.  Two very large, yet proportionally correct, hats greeted you at the entrance to the stadium.  The concourse wasn’t open to the field like T-Mobile’s, but it didn’t feel cramped even though there were a lot of people there.  I got in line later in the game to get some ice cream and water and none of the lines I saw were more than 5 people deep.  It was strange. I opted to sit in better seats than I would normally pick because they were playing the Mariners.  We had a good view of the field, but I didn’t realize the home team is on the opposite side of the field than at T-Mobile, so I sat us on the home team side.  I was hoping my Ryan Rowland-Smith jersey would have landed me a ball from a player during batting practice if someone was walking towards the dugout.  I did really like how the batter’s eye was basically a large water feature.  And you know I love a good water feature.  The team store was busy!  It was smaller than I thought it should have been and it was so busy that you actually queued up in zig-zag line outside like a ride at Disneyland. The overall fan experience was good and the whole place gave me T-Mobile vibes.  However, the Angels’ fans love doing the wave and they had a pretty strong wave go around 5(ish) times.  Though, the ushers were very strict about who could be down in what rows, but otherwise incredibly friendly. The hotdog at Angels Stadium was pretty good.  It had a nice meaty flavor and a soft bun.  I wouldn’t rank it as a favorite, but it was a solid choice. The Angels played the Mariners on August 5, 2023 at 6:07 pm and we sat in section 108, row V.  The price I paid for the tickets to this game was $65 and it seemed very reasonable and worth it.  The best part is that the Mariners won! If you want to see the box score, here’s a link

LA Dodgers - Stadium #2

 

After a slight mishap on my part, I ended up paying for parking twice, but I did pick two different lots.  Navigating the lot was a bit tricky and definitely required the help of all of the workers to guide us.  We ended up parking about 3 stalls from the entrance of the stadium which was really nice.  Looking 180 degrees from the front of the stadium is a view of Los Angeles and at night it was gorgeous! Right when you enter the stadium, you’re on the 3rd level and can see the whole field from the concourse.  The concourse itself seemed fairly large in terms of not feeling crowded.  Going down a level, there was a kid’s area…a small kid’s area.  There wasn’t a lot to do so Jake seemed to get bored of it quickly. Our seats weren’t that bad view wise, however, out of our 3 seats, 2 of them were definitely broken which made it difficult to sit.  The view out of the back of the stadium as the sun went down was splendid.  Even though the view was just a hill, it made you feel like you were away from the busy city and just there to enjoy baseball. On my quest for a hot dog, we found ourselves at a grab and go style stand.  Dogs, fries and prefilled souvenir cups were all set out to just grab and take to a cashier.  It was pretty handy.  So ‘Dodger Dogs’ are supposed to be a pretty big deal, my son even got a plush of the Dodger Dog.  Don’t come for me, but the hot dog wasn’t all that great.  I liked how it seemed like it was grilled vs just steamed, but that’s about it.  It was on the thinner side and much longer than the bun.  The flavor was rather bland and I couldn’t tell what type of “meat” they put in it.  I prefer Oscar Mayer over this one. The Dodgers played the Athletics on August 2, 2023 at 7:10 pm and we sat in section 8 RS, row R.  The price I paid for the tickets to this game was $43 and it seemed pretty inexpensive from what I was assuming it would be.  I’m unsure if they have dynamic pricing, but if they do, I assume the Athletics wouldn’t draw much of a crowd so that’s why they were so cheap. If you want to see the box score, here’s a link